County considers five commissioners

One of three potential maps of a proposed five-district Grant County is explained by Michael Sharp of Research & Polling Inc. at the County Commission’s work session on Tuesday.

Could more, in this case, be better?

Grant County Commissioners began the process of potentially adding two to their number at their work session Tuesday morning. After years of being asked about moving to a five-district system, the commission heard a preliminary presentation from a contractor on what the shape of the county’s new districts might look like.

Michael Sharp, Vice President of Research & Polling Inc., was asked to present a vision of a five-district Grant County after a request from Commissioner Ron Hall.

The switch to a five-person commission, according to Sharp, requires a plan that meets four key congressional mandates. The new districts must display equal population, minority voting rights, and “contiguity and compactness.” Once those are met, communities of interest — culture, religion, economics, etc. — may be considered.

The districts population equality, as ever, will be determined by census data which, Sharp stressed, counts every person living in each area. Children and adults not registered to vote are counted. Even Western New Mexico University students are tallied, since Grant County is their primary residence while they attend the university.

“You represent every resident, not just the registered voters,” Sharp said.

As with the three-district system, every commissioner would represent an equal number of residents with five districts. Congressional law mandates that the population be split equally between districts, with 5 percent leeway for unavoidable landscape characteristics of a given county. That would place 5,903 residents in each of the five districts, plus-or-minus 295.

One of the proposed five-district Grant County maps.

The mandate governing minority voting rights states any redistricting “must give minority groups the chance to a elect a candidate of their choice,” according to Sharp. During the presentation of three possible maps of a five-district system, Sharp pointed out that two of the options would install two mostly Hispanic districts. The third offers three mostly Hispanic districts. According to census data, the percentage of Hispanics in Grant County and its current districts is in the mid-40s. That would make two Hispanic commissioners the most ethnically representative option, at 40 percent of a five-district commission, according to Sharp.

One of the possible maps included both Cliff and Gila Hot Springs in the same district. Commission Chair Brett Kasten used this as an example to illustrate his concern that two communities so different would be included in the same district when — despite their proximity on a map — “are just about as far apart as you can be by road.”

In addition to consideration over population and demographics, the size and shape of any new district must be considered before anything is set in stone. The entire district must be in one piece (contiguity) and must be as compact as possible in fulfillment of the population and demographic rules.

Aside from the voters themselves, County Clerk Robert Zamarripa and his staff would be affected most by the proposed change. He, however, said it wouldn’t present much of a problem.

“If we don’t split any precincts and we have this done by February (2016), I don’t think we’ll have a problem,” he said.

This first public discussion of the potential change comes after requests made to Hall, Kasten and Commission Gabriel Ramos during past election campaigns.

“Why are we looking at this now?” Ramos asked. “Because in every election people have asked for this. We said we’d give it a look, so we are. That don’t mean we’re necessarily going to adopt it.”

An approval of the Notice of Intent to Adopt at Thursday’s regular meeting would barely begin the process of adopting a five-district system. Sharp said these decisions usually take at least three meetings. Kasten said he would prefer four.

“This is a big, bold change,” he said. “I want a lot of input and hope we get it.”

A decision to change from three districts to five requires a unanimous vote from the existing three commissioners. Any one commissioner could derail the process.

“We all get along pretty well up here, though,” Kasten said. “This is probably the best chance it’s ever had.”

Problems with county roads also received some spotlight at the work session. Just like in so many sectors, the county will be impacted by the failure of the state legislature to pass a capital outlay bill to provide funding to local governments for infrastructure. So, “tighten your belts,” Kasten said with a grimace. County Road Manager Earl Moore said he doesn’t know how much tighter his department’s belt can get.

“Paved roads aren’t just a maintenance issue,” said County Planning Director Anthony Gutierrez said. “The structural integrity of our roads is really failing. That means total reconstruction.” Given the funding failure at both state and federal levels, Gutierrez said that leaves it up to the county.

Gila National Forest Fire Management Officer Gabe Holguin will give a presentation on fire preparedness in Grant County at the regular meeting at 9 a.m. Thursday, at the Grant County Administration Building.